Does anyone know this MK7 GTI Clubsport

[irish1983]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/365254029288?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=zYbbNIXkStK&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=8kh9S4FtRv-&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Considering buying this, any cons against going for a jap import I’ve never owned one before ?

[joe6]

Bought an 'import' in the past - a Vauxhall badged as Opel and initially had some problems with insurance. Worth checking out.

[irish1983]

Ive checked that much out with insurance, funny my premium has decreased from an Audi A6 2.0litre tdi black edition. The website admiral didn’t recognise reg so I had to plumb it in manually and tell system it was a jap import. Surprisingly they owe me £50

[jv]

Thoughts:
Business seller status but just one item, that car for sale.
Who imports just one car to sell?
What's with the weird photo setup where they are only in the description?
'Usual clubsport spec' what does that mean? Usual for Japan?
Is it way cheaper than a UK supplied car?
Radio/Nav probably won't work correctly.

[SRGTD]

Thoughts:
Business seller status but just one item, that car for sale.
Who imports just one car to sell?
What's with the weird photo setup where they are only in the description?
'Usual clubsport spec' what does that mean? Usual for Japan?
Is it way cheaper than a UK supplied car?
Radio/Nav probably won't work correctly.

Good points @jv.

I think that cars built for the Japanese market also measure speed and distance in kilometres rather than miles, so the speedo would need to have been converted for UK use. Additionally, because of the less harsh winters in Japan than we’re used to in the UK, VW’s built for the Japanese market may have less corrosion protection applied compared to European / UK VW’s. Cars aren’t required to have rear foglights in Japan. However, this car has a current UK MOT, so if VW don’t fit rear fogs to cars originally sold in Japan, they’ll have been retrofitted in order to pass the MOT.

I see from the the gov.uk website that the car does have a current MOT (MOT’d in October), so it should have have met any requirements and ‘red tape’ that cars imported from Japan to the UK need to meet for them to be legally driven in the UK. However, I’d also want to see the relevant supporting documentation before considering travelling to view the car.

[EB2019]

What I always find funny about Japan and less harsh winters theory, is its the snowiest country in the world and has 2 of the most snow fall cities (honesty i'm not making it up, its over 40ft a year or something). Seems mad considering how little protection they put on all the MX5's over the years lol.

But aside from that, MOT's are easy to come by if you are in the trade (not implying anything just stating a fact). The underside seems very clean with lots of stickers visible for 60k miles, I was expecting garage queen and 10k based on the underside. and I would be more than cautious, if it seems to good to be true etc. etc.

But i'm glass half empty kind of person.
 

[irish1983]

The owner has sent me the documentation and has promised a walkaround video prior to me booking flights and travelling to see it.

He mentioned the car has come from south Japan where it rarely snows. The car was original bought from VW Kisarazu

He has also confirmed that the satnav is in Japanese but controls i.e. instrument cluster etc. are all in English.

If i get the video later i will try and share within this post.

[Adam T7]

What I always find funny about Japan and less harsh winters theory, is its the snowiest country in the world and has 2 of the most snow fall cities (honesty i'm not making it up, its over 40ft a year or something). Seems mad considering how little protection they put on all the MX5's over the years lol.

But aside from that, MOT's are easy to come by if you are in the trade (not implying anything just stating a fact). The underside seems very clean with lots of stickers visible for 60k miles, I was expecting garage queen and 10k based on the underside. and I would be more than cautious, if it seems to good to be true etc. etc.

But i'm glass half empty kind of person.

I believe it’s because they don’t salt the roads.

[fredgroves]

It would have to be seriously less money than a UK model to make it worthwhile.

The Japanese radio (different frequencies), the speedo in KMH and the missing foglights would be expensive to resolve - my guess about £500 for the radio, couple of hundred for the speedo and a couple of hundred to put UK rear light clusters on it. Easily a grand if you just bought the parts and did it yourself.

Then there is the "imported" flag for the insurance.

A quick google suggests a UK Mk7 Clubsport with similar mileage is about the same price as this Jap one... with a lot less grief.

[irish1983]

the price is willing to deal at is £16k, I've not seen one advertised near that price to be honest.

i would have assumed all you mention has been sorted to avail of a UK MOT?

Thanks